I am excited to announce that CartoTalk will begin producing a Cartographic Design Annual book. This will be a compilation of the best designed maps from each year, similar to the Communication Arts Photography or Illustration Annuals, ESRI's annual map book, and many others. The book will be full-color, bookstore quality printing, and available for purchase to anyone. This will be an excellent way to impress clients, bosses, friends, and family. The book will be promoted outside of CartoTalk in other design media so it will be a useful promotion tool for you or your business. A limited number of copies may be given to selected journalists as well.

The 2007 annual will be published in June of this year, but starting with the 2008 version it will be published in the beginning of the year. There will not be any special categories, and the only real requirement will be that the map was completed in calendar year 2007. While this is not technically a competition or an award, we will most likely not have room for all submissions, so maps will be chosen based on their design merits - aesthetic design and clarity of communication.

You may submit as many maps as you would like, but each map should be submitted separately.

Submission requirements:

Submission deadline is May 23rd 30th, 2008.

Maps must have been completed or published during 2007.

You must own the copyrights to the map or submit permission from the copyright holder.

Submissions MUST be in PDF form. Maps created for screen or web display MUST be submitted at native resolution as a 24-bit PNG.

For file submissions under 10MB send in an email to annual(at)cartotalk.com

For file submissions over 10MB send a DOWNLOAD link to annual(at)cartotalk.com

Submissions MUST include the following information:

Map title

Name(s) of map creator(s)

Company name (if applicable)

Software used

Data sources (optional)

Copyright attribution to be displayed

Web URL to be displayed for contact purposes

Please note:the copyrights for all submissions remain with the creators and submitted files will not be reused for any other purpose by the book publisher, Cartotalk, or its agents.

Posted 25 April 2008 - 03:57 PM

it will be nice to see a map design annual/competition out there that does not hold a software bias

I want to emphasize that this is not really a competition. I had been kicking around the idea of a CartoTalk Map Awards, but I realized what I would rather do is showcase the quality of our profession, hopefully to people outside the industry. To that end I want to show off the best work out there so some submissions unfortunately may not make it into that group.

1) can work be submitted even if it has been entered in another competition already?2) who will be judging?

1) You can submit anything, regardless of previous submissions.2) There is not really any judging. I will be making the editorial decisions as to which maps will be in the book. If I have a hard time deciding between a few, I may ask some others for their opinions. I have a good sense of what it takes for good map design.

Any limit on the number of submissions?

There is no limit to the number of submissions, but I need separate submissions for each.

...and yes, I will probably have some of my own maps in there as well. This is not an supposed to be an egalitarian contest, it is a showcase for cartographers.

Posted 25 April 2008 - 05:57 PM

kevinpaulscarrott

Posted 01 May 2008 - 07:16 PM

kevinpaulscarrott

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This will be an excellent way to impress clients, bosses, friends, and family. The book will be promoted outside of CartoTalk in other design media so it will be a useful promotion tool for you or your business. A limited number of copies may be given to selected journalists as well.

This is a wonderful and unique opportunity.

For those cartographers that have read and understood the message on offer here, well done!

For others that suddenly jump to conclusions about judgement and competitions, I would recommend the following; reread the initial text placing notice on the following key words:

- promotion tool- impress clients- compilation- communication

You certainly won’t find a better chance or offer to excel and impress!

Clark Geomatics

Posted 06 May 2008 - 02:15 PM

Clark Geomatics

Jeff Clark

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Location:North Vancouver, BC

Canada

Nick, do you have a minimum number of submissions needed to make the project a 'go'? If so, approximately how many maps are you talking about? Which other venues are you working through to generate submissions? I'll be sure to let folks know about your project - the more the merrier. Great idea by the way.

Posted 06 May 2008 - 09:41 PM

Nick, do you have a minimum number of submissions needed to make the project a 'go'? If so, approximately how many maps are you talking about? Which other venues are you working through to generate submissions? I'll be sure to let folks know about your project - the more the merrier. Great idea by the way.

Yes, I want to have 32-48 submissions to make it worthwhile. Currently I have 2 My original thought was it to be a "Cartotalk" book so I haven't promoted anywhere else. I like to think that most "design" cartographers have found this site by now.If it ends up not being a "go" I won't be upset, as it will just be a sign that we are not ready for something like this as a community.